A pitiful moan escaped me as Donatello gently pressed down on my chest with a deep concentration in his brown eyes. I was in an awkward position, sitting on a cot with my shell against the wall and a pillow placed behind my head.

Mikey stood over the genius, holding an icepack on his head as he worked. Donnie hit his head on the concrete when he was stunned, but he refused to rest just yet, making sure the rest of us were fine before he could even think of it.

"Okay, I'm going to put a little pressure here," Donnie warned.

I hissed suddenly at the soreness spreading across my chest, making Donnie and Mikey frown. I felt no better when he reeled back his hands, spitting out a cough that only caused more tenderness.

"Well, your ribs are definitely bruised. Looks like Leo's going to need that ice pack more than me, Mikey," Donnie determined.

"You got it, bro." Mikey saluted and placed the pack on my plastron too roughly, triggering a groan on my behalf. "Oops! Sorry, Leo."

Master Splinter sat beside Raphael in the corner of the lab, his worried gaze stuck on me. I hated that I was causing him stress; I wasn't used to being the injured one after a mission. That was typically Mikey or Raph's thing.

I leaned my head back on the pillow as the ice pack did little to nothing to my wound. When I closed my eyes, I could see Rocksteady towering over me, crushing me with his horn. As a result, I felt a phantom pain in my ribs.

Then I was transferred back to the utter terror that consumed me when Bebop and Rocksteady took off with Mikey, and I just wanted to kick myself. I thought going out early and only for a couple hours would be safe. Normally, it would have been, but Shredder must have switched around the Foot's patrol in order to find us quicker. I made myself sick trying to be in his mindset, thinking of all the terrible things he would do to my baby brother had his mutant henchman succeeded tonight. If my future self hadn't intervened, we'd be planning a rescue right now.

But when I opened my eyes and saw my little brother smiling down at me, all those thoughts melted away. What mattered most was that he was still with us, and I couldn't have been more relieved.

"Do you need something, bro?" Mikey asked as I continued to stare at him. It was heartwarming to me how he stood there and held the ice pack on my chest when I could have done it myself. It was the only way he could be helpful at the moment, and he was seizing it.

I wearily shook my head and gave his arm a pat. "No. Thanks, otōto."

His eyes flickered downward, and I saw a hint of sadness reflecting in the blue pools. Just when I thought to question him, the partially opened lab door groaned open further. We all found Big Leo there, standing with a bruise or two but still intact by the look of it. Mikey set down the ice pack and rushed over to my future self, pulling him into a tight hug that the other returned.

"Big Leo, you're okay!" my little brother exclaimed joyfully.

They let go, and Big Leo patted Mikey's head. "Of course I am. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but Leo's ribs are bruised, and Donnie has a headache," Mikey reported with a frown.

Big Leo shuffled in and stripped his gear with a tired sigh. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been there sooner, guys."

"Do not apologize," Master Splinter said, rising from his chair. He walked up behind Mikey and set his paws on his shoulders, and the youngest looked up at him with a smile that Sensei weakly mimicked. "The most important thing is that my sons are still here. Especially you, Michelangelo."

Mikey's warm smile at our father dropped as well as his head, but Sensei's gaze was too focused on my future counterpart to notice. I saw it from across the lab and may have been the only one. I couldn't see his face anymore; the shadows masked his expression, yet I knew it was sadness.

I wondered if the danger he found himself in was finally sinking in, that it took an attempted kidnapping for it to become real. It hurt me to see Mikey like this, for his bright aura to diminish with a single frown. But it made me even angrier toward the Shredder for him to feel like this in the first place. It was time to start forming a plan to get the Heiwa no Buki back. We'd been taking too long, and the longer we waited, the more desperate Oroku Saki might become. I couldn't imagine the extreme measures he'd take to get Mikey.

Sucking in a sharp hiss from my ribs that screamed in protest, I went to rise from my cot. "It's time to devise a plan. We need to steal back the Heiwa no Buki."

"You're not going anywhere," came Donnie's voice from behind. He gently guided me back into my sitting position, placing the ice pack in my hands and guiding it back to my injury. I could only grunt in protest, unable to move him away from me without a pang spreading across my chest. "You need to heal your ribs before doing anything strenuous for a while. You can't afford to injure yourself any further."

"I'm okay, Don," I argued weakly, my voice softening the longer I stared at Donnie's stern glare.

"Leo, Rocksteady almost broke your ribs. You need to spend the next few days walking it off and doing breathing exercises if you want to heal properly within the next few weeks," he lectured.

"Weeks?" I echoed, a hoarse cough sputtering out of me immediately after. I almost hunched over in pain, my eyes shut tightly. "But we have to get the Heiwa no Buki back from Shredder."

"Listen to your brother, Leonardo. You will be going nowhere until you heal," Master Splinter said.

"But, Sensei, the longer we wait, Shredder could—"

"Chinmoku," the rat snapped. His eyes darted to Mikey and then back at me quicker than a blink. At that point, I knew he was stopping me because he wanted to protect the youngest from this conversation, also telling me he knew the risk of prolonging this mission. "This is not up for debate. Rest first, then we will see what we can do about the Heiwa no Buki."

"You won't be very useful with damaged ribs, champ," Big Leo added.

"I know," I groaned, looking down at my hands enclosed over the ice pack.

Donnie placed a hand on my shoulder, and I met his chocolate brown eyes that reflected sympathy. "I'm going to give you some pain meds, and you need to get some sleep while sitting up. Think you'll be more comfortable in your own bed?"

I nodded vigorously, getting a chuckle out of my genius brother. He handed me some medication with water, and I could feel my family staring at me as I gulped it down.

"Michelangelo," Sensei said, triggering a jump from the youngest despite his calm voice. Evidently, he'd been lost in his own world for a while. "Would you please take your brother to his bed?"

Mikey bobbed his head without a word, shuffling over to me and helping me stand with my arm over his shoulder. His baby blue eyes wouldn't meet my own as we did so, and it remained that way until we got to my room. He gently guided me onto the bed and positioned a pillow mountain behind my shell. Then he took care in placing a blanket over my lap, again, doing something that wasn't necessary but doing it anyway from the kindness of his big heart. When done, his eyes finally rested on mine, his face the same it'd been since I watched that smile vanish in the lab earlier.

"Don't look at me like that, Mikey. My ribs are only bruised," I said with a forced assuring smile.

My little brother's eyes darted to the floor, turning glossy with tears even under the room's dim light. I frowned at the sight.

"Mikey? What's wrong?" I questioned, desperately looking for a sign of life on his face, yet he remained melancholy. It was weird to see that kind of emotion on his face, like looking at an imposter.

Mikey embarrassedly wiped his eyes, sniffling back a sob that made his shell hitch.

"I'm sorry."

I blinked at him, feeling a different twinge in my chest that wasn't the bruised ribs. "None of this is your fault, Mikey."

He found interest in his toes, wiggling them and tracing them on the ground, wearing a frown I wish I could wipe off his face.

"Rocksteady wouldn't have crushed you like a bug, and Donnie wouldn't have been knocked out if it weren't for me," he said shakenly. "If I had been there sooner…."

I stopped him there, waving a dismissive hand. "You would have been taken to the Shredder, and Big Leo wouldn't have gotten there in time. It all worked out."

"No, it didn't, dude! You're not listening to me!" Mikey stomped his foot, his cheeks flushing.

I let out a tired sigh, thinking back to last night when he basically told me the same thing. This whole ordeal was taking a toll on his emotional state, and I was trying to be more patient, yet it was so hard when my own emotional state was hanging on by dental floss.

I folded my arms gently over my swollen chest and raised my eye ridges at him, offering my silence so he could express himself without interruption.

"It's just…." Mikey's eyes found the floor again, and a single tear escaped the floodgates. "If I hadn't touched the Heiwa no Buki, then I wouldn't have sparked whatever I sparked, and then Shred-Head wouldn't be looking for me, and then Bebop and Rocksteady wouldn't have attacked you guys, and then you wouldn't be bed bound for the next couple weeks. I ruin everything."

My gaze softened. I opened my mouth to say something, but my brain was still processing what he said due to his rambling. How could he think any of this was his burden to bear when Shredder was the real monster at fault? I never stopped to think about how he felt about being in the middle of this whole situation, other than being terrified that he thought he was to be Shredder's mindless warrior.

"And when you told me to abandon the fight…." Mikey continued, his gaze still stitched to the floor. "It didn't feel right to leave you guys, not when this is my fault."

I couldn't listen to him anymore, butting in with a stern voice. "But it's not your fault, Mikey. You didn't bruise my ribs. You didn't knock Donnie unconscious. Do you know what you did? You helped save us. If anything, it's your fault Rocksteady didn't hurt me further."

My words didn't help raise the sadness off his face like I had hoped. His blue eyes looked at mine, and there was this look of defeat on him that I'd worn myself in the past.

"I'm still the reason this happened…." Mikey managed to say. He squeezed his eyes shut, and a waterfall of tears followed.

At that moment, I knew nothing I could say or do would help him, and a sense of helplessness weighed me down. I wasn't good at these kinds of things, and I wished Master Splinter was here to offer some wisdom instead of me.

Why did it have to be me?

How did I even manage to comfort him that night I told him he was a screw-up? What did I do then that I can't seem to do now?

"Mikey…" I went to say, but I was interrupted by the sound of my door opening.

Donnie popped his head in and was immediately under the awkward gaze of Mikey and me, who weren't expecting his presence. He smiled uneasily. I could tell he was sparing Mikey by ignoring the fact that he was obviously crying.

"Hey, are you doing okay?" Donnie asked me.

I blinked sleepily at him, mentally noting that during this conversation with Mikey, my limbs had been going loose under the strong pain medication. Now I was having trouble lifting my heavy eyelids.

Finally, I nodded at Donnie.

Mikey gave my leg a pat with the most pathetic smile twitching at his lips. "Hope you feel better, bro."

He shuffled past Donnie without a word. The genius watched him leave with a frown until the door closed.

"I hate to see him like this," Donnie said.

I leaned back, staring at the rusty pipes above my bed with an exhausted sigh. I struggled to keep my stare focused, but the pipes were splitting in two. "We need to get the Heiwa no Buki back. Every confident thought I had that we were capable of keeping Mikey safe was thrown out the window tonight."

"We were taken by surprise," Donnie reasoned gently.

I raised my head quickly and immediately regretted it as my room spun in circles. "It doesn't matter. A ninja should be prepared for anything, Donnie. Next time, there will be more mutants, and I don't think we'll be able to…."

I stopped, deciding I didn't want to finish my sentence in fear it would become a reality. Donnie's gaze fell to the floor at the sound of defeat in my voice, yet he knew it was all true. If we faced another ambush like tonight, Mikey's fate would catch up to him. And then he'll…. No, I couldn't think like that.

"He's in real trouble, isn't he?" Donnie asked, fear creeping into his tone.

My unfocused gaze met his, and though I looked drunk, it was serious enough to widen my genius brother's eyes with concern. He closed them and turned away, his shoulders going slack.

I swallowed thickly, remembering my promise to him in the alley shortly before the assault. "There's something you should know about his future."

Meanwhile

As dusk fell over the city, Oroku Saki roosted on his throne. His Kuro Kabuto nestled under his arm protectively like he would hold a child. His fingers impatiently drummed atop the steel as he awaited a report from his mutant soldiers. The other hand laced tightly around the Heiwa no Buki, standing it up straight next to his throne. He only let that fly, Baxter Stockman hold it when needed for their project. Other than that, it stayed in his grasp.

As a young acolyte, he wondered about the true destruction a simple-looking stick could cause. He'd heard of mountains bowing, armies crumpling, and wars ending. Such a shame to waste power like that on a weak junsuina mono. The one in the legend couldn't handle the responsibilities the staff possessed, costing him his life. What made the turtles think they could do better?

Suddenly, the opening doors of his throne room put a pause on his thoughts. He tilted his head slightly, wondering why his soldiers had returned so early. Unless it was Stockman, and in that case, he would be ready to throw something at him for disturbing him. Yet to his wonder, it was Zeck and Steranko.

They hobbled in and dropped to their knees before the glass stairs that led to the throne. Saki could get a better look at their condition even under the dim light. Though they both looked awful, Steranko seemed to be in the worse state. A gash across his face seeped fresh blood, undoubtfully leaving a scar in the future.

"Rise, you pathetic mutants," Saki hissed. The pair did so, keeping their heads bowed in shame more than respect for their master. "An explanation as to why you come to me empty-handed would do you good before I beat it out of you."

The two cringed in unison, looking at each other and waiting for one to start talking.

"Master Shredder," Steranko started, gulping. "We ran into turtles earlier than expected. There is fifth one now."

Saki stifled a look of surprise, recalling Tiger Claw mentioning that he thought he had counted five turtles on the dock the last night, though he wasn't sure. Now it was confirmed.

"For reals. He looked just like the blue one, but bigger," Zeck added.

Steranko pointed at the gash. "Da. And more skilled. Gave me this."

Saki clenched his fists. There was nothing he could do about this new addition, though he loathed the thought of another turtle poking in his business as if four weren't already a pain in his ass. This talk of theirs only stalled the real reason they were here.

Slowly, he rose from the throne and dawned his Kuro Kabuto. He heavily descended the stairs and confronted the two with narrowed eyes that made them shrink.

"And what of the junsuina mono?" he asked.

"The what?" the warthog and rhino asked simultaneously.

Their ignorance angered Saki. He lashed out and struck both across the face, making sure to aim for Steranko's wound. Each grunted and cowered into the other.

"Michelangelo! Did you find him, or were you too busy counting turtles?" Saki yelled.

"We had him, boss, but the fifth one put the beating on us, ya feel me?" Zeck said.

Saki's hands went numb from the stiff fists he refused to loosen. This was a major setback in his plot. Yoshi's sons must have an idea of his plans for the young turtle who dared to be a junsuina mono. They would go into hiding if they were wise, but Saki knew them all too well. They'd come for him, for his weapon. Then suddenly, he had an idea, looking down at the Heiwa no Buki in his tight grasp.

"Your failure will cost you. I'd end your miserable lives now if I didn't feel you could still be useful to me," Saki threatened.

The pair gulped.

"Bring me that pathetic Baxter Stockman."


Hello! I'm back from my trip! Chapters should be updated regularly for the next couple of weeks if all goes well. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, and as always, I hope you have a wonderful day!